Erica Neely grew up in South Central Los Angeles in a Spanish-speaking household. Somehow she kept getting passed on from grade to grade even though she didn’t learn English until she was in high school.
Thanks to the ridiculously high cost of living in the Land of Fruits & Nuts, she moved to Las Vegas in the mid-2000’s and bought her first house.
Originally registered as a Democrat – because that’s just what everybody did in her Mexican-American neighborhood at the time – Erica got “red-pilled” and switched to the Republican Party during the Obama presidency.
She fell in love, got married, and had some kids – including one adopted child. She also fostered another dozen and became a real-life “soccer mom.”
When her eldest daughter ran into some problems at her public school, Erica decided to run for a seat on the Clark County School Board in 2022. It was her first time dipping her toes in the political waters and she didn’t make it out of the primary.
However, during the course of the campaign she came to realize how much influence legislators in Carson City have over local education decisions – including steadfast Democrat opposition to school choice options which would have helped her daughter.
During the filing period for office last March, it became clear that everyone was afraid to run against her State Assembly representative, Steve Yeager, because as Speaker of the Assembly he’s quite powerful and raised a boatload of dough.
Well . . . everyone except Erica!
Seeing that no one had filed to run against the Speaker in the closing days of the filing period, Erica threw her chapeau in the ring.
She didn’t have any major endorsements. She didn’t have a campaign manager or consultant. She didn’t have the party’s support. She didn’t have any money. In fact, after the June primary she reported receiving only $377.18 in donations for her campaign.
Then a mutual friend sent her to me last August. We met and started putting a last-minute campaign plan together. The way I was reading the district numbers, I always thought this seat was ripe for the pickin’.
But Erica and I were about the only ones who saw the potential.
She went on to raise just under $50,000 – thanks in no small part to generous contributions from Republican Assemblywomen Lisa Cole, Danielle Gallant, and Jill Dickman who had the courage to risk incurring Yeager’s wrath.
Alas, it was too little, too late.
In the end she lost by only 775 votes out of almost 35,000 cast in a Democrat-majority district against the sitting Speaker of the Assembly who raised over $740,000!
But here’s the thing…
Yeager definitely heard Erica’s footsteps. He spent money attacking her in mailers and digital ads – money that otherwise would have gone to helping defeat other Republican candidates.
And she almost pulled off a major upset of the Democrats’ #1 leader.
For those reasons and more, Citizen Outreach is honoring Erica Neely with our 2025 Conservative Unsung Hero Award.
And if she decides to run for the same seat in 2026 – which she’s considering – don’t dare bet against her this time!
If you’d like to join us for the 2025 Conservative Awards Dinner on Saturday, April 5th, click here for details.
